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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardioneurology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1402086
This article is part of the Research Topic Updates on Cardiovascular Variability: Underlying Mechanisms and Non-Pharmacological Therapeutic Targets View all 4 articles

Blunted cardiac autonomic dynamics to active standing test in postmenopausal women

Provisionally accepted
Costanza Scatà Costanza Scatà 1Felipe Ferreira Felipe Ferreira 2Michelle Padilha Michelle Padilha 2Angelica Carandina Angelica Carandina 1Riccardo Asnaghi Riccardo Asnaghi 1Chiara Bellocchi Chiara Bellocchi 1,3Eleonora Tobaldini Eleonora Tobaldini 1,3Nicola Montano Nicola Montano 1,3Pedro Paulo D. Soares Pedro Paulo D. Soares 2Gabriel Rodrigues Gabriel Rodrigues 1,2*
  • 1 University of Milan, Milan, Lombardy, Italy
  • 2 Fluminense Federal University, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 3 IRCCS Ca 'Granda Foundation Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Milan, Lombardy, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Although both aging and menopause influence cardiovascular autonomic control, the effect of menopause per se remains unclear. The current study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that post-menopausal women (PMW) have a blunted cardiovascular autonomic adjustment to active standing compared to pre-menopausal women. Thus, we compared the heart rate variability (HRV) indexes from supine (SUP) to orthostatic (ORT) positions among young women (YW), young men (YM), older men (OM), and PMW. The participants rested for 10 minutes in SUP and then stood up and remained for 5 minutes in ORT. ECG was continuously recorded, and R-R time series of about 300 beats were analyzed using linear (spectral analysis) and non-linear (symbolic analysis) methods. The variation from SUP to ORT was calculated (Δ= ORT – SUP) for each HRV index. In SUP, no difference was found for any HRV index among groups. However, Δ0V% and ΔLFn (cardiac sympathetic modulation) were reduced in PWM compared to all groups (OM, YW, and YM), while Δ2UV% and ΔHFn (cardiac vagal modulation) were reduced in PMW than the younger group (YW and YM). No differences were found among the male groups (OM and YM). In light of our results, the cardiac autonomic dynamic response to orthostatic stress is blunted in post-menopausal women compared to younger women and older men, a finding that might be influenced not only by aging.

    Keywords: Heart rate variability, Orthostatic stress, Menopause, estrogen, Aging

    Received: 16 Mar 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Scatà, Ferreira, Padilha, Carandina, Asnaghi, Bellocchi, Tobaldini, Montano, Soares and Rodrigues. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gabriel Rodrigues, Fluminense Federal University, Niterói, 24220-900, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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